Christopher K. Rhea

Dr. Rhea’s primary research interest is the control of gait and balance. Dr. Rhea’s team has leveraged smartphone technology by creating an Android-based app to identify neurological dysfunction from movement patterns. Dr. Rhea’s research team has also developed novel rehabilitation applications using virtual reality (VR) technology by creating avatars and other virtual environments to assist in the re-development of a patient’s walking ability. Dr. Rhea’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DoD), US Navy, and the Women’s Football Foundation.

Much has been learned about the characteristics of gait in overground and treadmill walking. However, there are many contexts in which overground or treadmill walking might not be possible, such as in home-based physical therapy. In those cases, a su...

Visual information regarding obstacle position and size is used for planning and controlling adaptive gait. However, the manner in which visual cues in the environment are used in the control of gait is not fully known. This research examined the eff...

Purpose: Injuries from falls are a serious health issue. Approaches to preventing falls should consider increasing relevant visual information of an obstacle. Obstacle parameters, such as position and height, may be specified by the visible s...

Fractal patterns characterize healthy biological systems and are considered to reflect the ability of the system to adapt to varying environmental conditions. Previous research has shown that fractal patterns in gait are altered following natural agi...

When people walk together in groups or crowds they must coordinate their walking speed and direction with their neighbors. This paper investigates how a pedestrian visually controls speed when following a leader on a straight path (one-dimensional fo...

Previous work has shown that fractal patterns in gait can be altered by entraining to a fractal stimulus. However, little is understood about how long those patterns are retained or which factors may influence stronger entrainment or retention. In ex...

Variable practice may be beneficial for learning novel motor patterns. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a variable practice intervention during treadmill walking on the dynamic properties of gait. Using a counterbalanced desig...

Nonlinear dynamics quantifies gait variability patterns, which can be useful in evaluating functional ability. A commonly used nonlinear technique is detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Safety support structures have previously been shown to alter ...

Gait performance exhibits patterns within the stride-to-stride variability that can be indexed using detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Previous work employing DFA has shown that gait patterns can be influenced by constraints, such as natural agin...

Focus of attention during dual-tasks and practice schedules are important components of motor skill performance and learning; often studied in isolation. The current study required participants to complete a simple key-pressing task under a blocked o...

During locomotion over uneven terrain, gait must be adapted to avoid a trip. In the event of a foot-obstacle contact, the body reactively responds to the perturbation. However, it is unknown if any proactive adjustments are made in subsequent strides...

Background
During locomotion, vision is used to perceive environmental obstacles that could potentially threaten stability; locomotor action is then modified to avoid these obstacles. Various factors such as lighting and texture can make these envir...

Mental and mechanical (M&M) techniques are very useful in teaching and coaching. Mental techniques are strategies that enhance movement through psychological preparation, such as using imagery to practice a skill. Mechanical techniques are strategies...

Context: Greater knee-joint laxity may lead to a higher risk of knee injury, yet it is unknown whether results of self-reported outcome measures are associated with distinct knee-laxity profiles.Objective: To identify the extent t...

Discrete wavelet analysis is used to resolve the center of pressure time series data into several timescale components, providing new insights into postural control. Healthy young and elderly participants stood quietly with their eyes open or closed ...

BACKGROUND: Over the last two decades, various measures of entropy have been used to examine the complexity of human postural control. In general, entropy measures provide information regarding the health, stability and adaptability of the postural s...

2017-2018 UNCG University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund Grant Winner--- The assessment of gait variability using stochastic signal processing techniques such as detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) has been shown to be a sensitive tool for ev...

Complexity measures have become increasingly prominent in the postural control literature. Several studies have found associations between clinical balance improvements and complexity, but the relationship between sensory reweighting and complexity c...

Sport stacking is used in more than 10,000 physical education, after school, and sports programs. Once considered a recreational activity, the sport now has state and national competitions. Sport stacking manufacturers claim the sport of sport stacki...

Gait control challenges commonly coincide with vestibular dysfunction and there is a long history in using balance and gait activities to enhance functional mobility in this population. While much has been learned using traditional rehabilitation exe...

The roles of visual exteroception (information regarding environmental characteristics) and exproprioception (the relation of body segments to the environment) during gait adaptation are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to determin...